Canadian Solar's Japanese fund prices IPO

October 26 (Renewables Now) - Solar manufacturer Canadian Solar Inc (NASDAQ:CSIQ) said today its infrastructure fund in Japan has priced its initial public offering (IPO).

Canadian Solar last month received approval from the Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc (TSE) to list Canadian Solar Infrastructure Fund Inc (CSIF) on the exchange's infrastructure investment fund securities market.

The fund's IPO of 177,800 investment units was priced at JPY 100,000 (USD 879/EUR 750) per unit, before underwriting discounts. Canadian Solar will buy 25,395 units as the designated purchaser. The listing of the units is expected to take place on October 30.

CSIF will use the IPO proceeds and expected borrowings of JPY 17.7 billion for the acquisition of its initial portfolio -- 13 solar power facilities with a combined capacity of 72.7 MWp, coming from subsidiaries of Canadian Solar in Japan.

Canadian Solar is getting JPY 30.4 billion from the sale of the assets and plans to use part of the proceeds to reduce debt leverage and to strengthen liquidity.